FEEJEE GROUP. 343 



best-looking natives that are met with. These are to be found more 

 among the eastern islands than elsewhere, showing the effects of the 

 intercourse. 



Our accounts of the language are derived from the missionaries, 

 who are making great exertions to become thoroughly acquainted 

 with it, in its different dialects, of which there are several in the 

 group. They have found more than ordinary difficulty in bringing 

 the language into a written shape, and have not yet fully completed 

 the task. The characters they have employed for this purpose are 

 the Roman, and they have made such changes in the usual sounds of 

 some of the letters, as are absolutely necessary to express the peculiar 

 sounds of the Feejee tongue. The vowels are used generally to 

 express the sounds they denote in the French language, except the 

 broad sound of the «, which that letter is not always confined to; 

 b is used to represent the sound nib; c, that of the Greek <j; d is 

 sounded rid ; g, rig. Of all the letters, r and s retain most closely 

 the sounds by which they are known to us ; t has a peculiar sound, 

 partaking of th, and in some of the districts is not used at all. The 

 sound of k is entirely wanting in the Somu-somu dialect, whilst it is 

 much used and distinctly uttered in the others. 



In the Lakemba dialect they use the j, sounded nja, which they 

 derive from the Tongese. 



The following is the alphabet adopted by the missionaries. It 

 consists of twenty-four letters, being the same as our own, with the 

 exception of the x, which is wanting. They were kind enough to 

 give me the sounds of the different letters, which are as follows : 



A, a, as in father, or in manner. 



M, ma. 



B, mb, as Bau, sounded Mbau. 



N, na. 



C, tha or la, sounded tha. 



0,o. 



D, nda or dina, sounded ndina. 



P, pa, it is sounded like va 



E, eda, sounded enda. 



Q, nka. 



F, fa, sounded like v. 



R, ra. 



G, nga. 



S, sa. 



H, there is no aspirate. 



T, ta. 



I, e, eng. 



U, u, French sound. 



J, ja, this sound is seldom used. 



V, va. 



K, ka. 



W, wa. 



L, la. 



Y,ya. 



The missionaries were at first inclined to doubt that any affinity 

 existed between the Feejee language and the other dialects of Poly- 



